The Factor Structure of the Breast Cancer Screening Beliefs Questionnaire among Female Employees in Zambia: The Case of Lusaka District

In Zambia, breast cancer has become one of the leading causes of death among women with the mortality rate of 8.5 deaths per 100 000 (Bray, Farlay, Soerjomataram, Siegel, Torre & Jemal as cited in Cabanes, Kapambwe, Citonge-Msadabwe, Parham, Lishimpi, Cruz & Shastri, 2019). Delays in symptom recognition and diagnosis among women are associated with high mortality rate. The breast cancer screening beliefs questionnaire (BCSBQ) is widely utilised for measuring women’s attitude, knowledge and perception concerning breast cancer and screening practices. However the psychometric properties of this instrument have not been established on a Zambian sample. This study therefore aimed at investigating the reliability and construct validity of the BCSBQ on a Zambian sample. The 12-item BCSBQ with three subscales was administered to a non-probability sample of 201 Zambian female employees. The factorial structure models underlying the BCSBQ were investigated using item analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) as well as the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) via structural equation modelling. Statistical analyses provided good fit of the BCSBQ measurement model with the empirical data. Conclusion: This study has demonstrated evidence of construct validity for the usage of the BCSBQ in the Zambian context. These findings therefore clear the way to investigate the predictive validity of the instrument when used by human resources practitioners for health screening purposes. A reliable and valid instrument as shown by the results is important for the development of breast cancer screening and prevention programmes